ZAINAB’S MOTHER
Compass is a dedicated and wonderful institution, which is providing its best efforts to those who are challenged on every slip of their lives. Being a mother I feel the same love, affection, warmth, care and support in each of its member for my children that I have.

Compass is the present, past and future of my children, which is teaching them well, helping them lead the way, showing them all the beauty they possess inside and given them a sense of pride.

TALHA’S MOTHER
My son Talha (Down Syndrome age 5 years, 9 months) has been in Compass for the last two years. To be honest, it was a very difficult decision for me to start sending Talha to anyone to take care of my child. It was Sarah Ahmed (Physiotherapist) who convinced me that COMPASS would be the right place for Talha. For the first three weeks I used to sit outside his classroom while the teachers were trying hard to make Talha settle down. During these weeks I observed how caring the teachers were. I felt that my son would be well looked after. Then onwards Talha has never looked back. He has been making steady progress & most of all he loves going to school. Even on weekends he wakes up early & demands to be taken to tool! (School). All the teachers at COMPASS have been extremely kind & affectionate. They have been making tremendous efforts towards solving Talha’s feeding problems as well.
The entire team at COMPASS deserves praise for their dedication & hard work. At Compass the staff members do not laugh at the children they laugh with them. Even the smallest achievements of a child are celebrated with joy.
I am grateful to Allah for giving us the opportunity to send Talha to Compass a special place for special children.

SYLLAH’S MOTHER
Since Syllah joined Compass she has become more sociable, cheerful & creative. Her habits have been molded in the school in such a way that she has learned to share & also to be proud of her work. I have been so impressed by the fact that she helps all the teachers & students & shows care & concern for them. Her interactions with the teachers and students have improved her social skills. I am so proud of Syllah improvements & grateful to her teachers & administration for making them possible.

My Little Angels
Hi I am a parent of two special, very special children or rather two little angels. No doubt bringing up two special kids is a very difficult job, but as Allah has said that he doesn’t put that kind of burden on a person that one cannot handle.

When my daughter, was born I was just 20 years old and had no idea what the word “Special” meant. For at least a year and a half I was in complete denial that my child had any problem. But slowly and steadily got it rubbed in by Doctors and Therapists. Then came the tough part. It was surely difficult to accept. When she was 2.5 years old I went out looking for schools for her. But was refused by all the mainstream schools. It was then that I was made to realize that I had to lookout for a special school for my child. I went to a couple of well-known special schools of Lahore and believe me I came back crying. The less said about such schools the better it is!

At that time I had decided to keep her at home rather than to send her to a place like that where the special children are not given proper attention, care and love they deserve and require.

It hurt a lot to be treated differently and rejected at that time, until came a breakthrough,a school with individualized education plans had opened and she started to go there.

My daughter going to school was a joy for us. It was amazing preparing her school bag together, giving her lunch in a lunch box and the water bottle. It was just so amazing. Leaving her to school in the morning and God! The excitement of picking her up in the afternoon, finding out all the things she learnt and did in school that day by her teachers. It cannot be expressed in words. My baby had started to learn nursery rhymes. In the beginning it was surely difficult for me to part from her and to trust the staff at school. But I think it must be like that with all the parents.

She went there for 8 months until they closed down and she joined COMPASS.

I went through a lot of difficulties and also through a lot of pain seeing, that my child could not do a lot of things the other kids could do. But the credit goes to her that she never gave up. She kept on trying until she would achieve her goal. And by the time she was 4.5 years old, she started walking. Obviously not with proper balance, that day I could not control my tears and even today when I write about it I can’t control them trickling down my eyes.

That moment was amazing, when she walked 12 steps from her classroom to the office door. I could not help myself, but to hug my angel and cry.

Definitely the credit goes to Sarah her Physiotherapist and Tania her teachers then and all the staff of Compass who helped her throughout her life and brought such a change in our lives and also gave us hope that things would get better day by day, only if we try and don’t give up at any stage. There are rough times and there are smooth ones to.

Today my little one is a well-grown lady of 8.5 years. She can communicate her needs and Mashallah is quite independent.

Whatever praise I give to the people in this field of special education is less because it is due to their dedication and commitment that parents like myself and children like my daughter are made to see the light coming of a wee little hole.

Thank you all of you and Thank you most of Allah for giving all of us the courage to face the problems in life with a smile on our face and also for trusting in us as parent to take good care of these little angels.

Every mother has dreams,
of a child perfect and whole.
Every mother has hopes, for perfection,
body and soul.
But they don’t see what I see,
The smile that lights your face.
Your laughter reveals God’s grace.
They don’t see what I see,
My child loving and whole.
I have hopes and dreams,
Because my child you are a gift from God
And you have a perfect soul.

HASSAN KHAN’S MOTHER

I still think of and enjoy the moment when I saw my son standing near the keys stand, bending his knees up and down, trying to jump & get hold of the key chains. After trying for two days he changed his technique, he got on tiptoes & succeeded in getting hold of the key chain. I know its nothing for a six years old boy, but for me its like an answer to my prayers. My son now has problems like a normal child & he himself seeks solution for his problems.

Hassan Khan joined Compass in Feb. 2005. Since then there has been dramatic changes in him. Hassan’s eye contact has increased significantly. He has started walking, gained more strength, muscle control & motor development. His destructive, aggressive & hysteric behavior has decreased due to increase in his interactive behavior. It might sound stupid when I tell people that my son now loves me, kisses me, and hugs me. He can dance on only one verbal command, lie down in my lap & take the bed cover over him, all by himself. He follows me all around the house. He now tries different gestures to make me understand his needs. Now this is a real achievement for a child who never knew what need is! I can’t list down all his improvements but each and every thing is hard coded in my heart.

By the grace of God, this is all due to sincere efforts that have been made by Hassan’s “aunties” & ‘uncles’ at Compass. I have received a blessing at Compass on behalf of my son.

Saima Qureshi
Mama of Hassan Khan

A Labour of Love

As most parents would vouch for, parenting is perhaps one of the trickiest jobs on the planet. Add to it a pinch of schooling, and it morphs into quite a monstrous one! Finding the right school for “regular kids” has come to be a major issue in Pakistani households. Finding the right school for a child with special needs would indeed be an awesome, if not impossible, task.

And so it was .. School after school I visited, disappointed and disturbed. These were dull, dismal places… places without cheer, without dynamism. Our special kids were being short changed, getting a shoddy deal, making do with whatever was on offer.

There was no doubt in my mind that I could not entrust my child to these “institutions” while I still had my senses. They did not inspire any confidence with regard to the quality of care and supervision any child with special needs requires.

Then I happened to visit Compass. I still remember the pleasant surprise I got. A vast green lawn sprinkled with all sorts of play things greeted you. The school was bright and colorful. Classrooms were furnished beautifully. There was a positive air about the place and it was humming with good cheer. A small number of kids was matched by an equal number of staff so that each child would get one on one supervision and that was most reassuring.

At the time, I was informed the admissions were closed and that there was a waiting list. Much to my relief however, within a week, I got a call from the school that they could take Ismail.

That was almost 3 years ago. Since then Compass has come a long way and so has Ismail, by the Benevolence and blessings of Allah.

Compass does not cut corners when it comes to our special kids. It does not believe in the second best for them. Academic development, physical and speech therapy are taken care of. Opportunities for sports, music, creative work and fun are provided. Counseling for both kids and parents is at hand. The most striking feature however is, that the teachers seem to actually enjoy their work and this results in a relax and upbeat environment.

Every institution has its teething troubles and growing pains. Compass is no exception. Being a hard to please parent, I have to admit I have had my share of difficult moments with the place.

However, it is my firm belief that Compass will go places, Inshallah. I have high hopes that, given continued dedication and hard work, Compass will become a center of excellence for special education. The reason for my conviction, is the purity of intent and the commitment, with which Compass has undertaken this project; not as a commercial enterprise but as a noble cause; not as a drudgery to be borne but as a labour of love.

Compass_edu@hotmail.com